Sutro Heights Park
| Sutro Heights Park | |
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Sutro Heights Park sign.
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| Location | Richmond District, San Francisco, California |
| Coordinates | 37°46′42″N 122°30′40″W / 37.7782632°N 122.5110838°WCoordinates: 37°46′42″N 122°30′40″W / 37.7782632°N 122.5110838°W |
| Area | 18 acres (7.3 ha) |
| Operated by | Golden Gate National Recreation Area |
Sutro Heights Park is historic public park in the Outer Richmond District of western San Francisco, California. It is within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Sutro Historic District.
It is located above the Cliff House in the Lands End area, with views of the Seal Rocks, Ocean Beach, and the Pacific Ocean.
The 18 acres (7.3 ha) park is on the site of the former "Sutro Heights" estate of Adolph Sutro, a silver baron, and a major land owner/developer in and mayor of San Francisco.
In 1881, Adolf Sutro purchased 22 acres (89,000 m2) of undeveloped land south of Point Lobos (San Francisco) and north of Ocean Beach at the western edge of the city. It included a promontory overlooking the Pacific, with scenic views of the Marin Headlands, Mount Tamalpais, and the Golden Gate. Sutro built his mansion on a rocky ledge there, above the first Cliff House.
The grounds consisted of a spacious turreted mansion, a carriage house, and outbuildings set in expansive gardens. The estate dominated the Lands End area, with an elaborate entrance gate. He spent in excess of a million dollars to recreate an Italian style garden. It was filled with fountains, planted urns, and statues, Victorian flower beds, hedge mazes, parterres, forests of trees, a glass plant conservatory, and other garden structures. Vista points included the "observation plaza" overlooking the Cliff House, and the "Dolce far Niente Balcony," a long terrace-like structure along the cliff overlooking Ocean Beach. To provide garden decorations, he imported over 200 concrete replicas of Greek and Roman statuary from Belgium, to provide examples of European culture to visitors.
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